Excursion, Bora-Bora

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When we arrived on Bora Bora, the first thing we did was take a jet ski tour around the island. This was a great way to see the many beautiful motus and landscapes that make up Bora Bora. Along the way, our guide stopped at a motu where we tasted fresh fruit from the island. He climbed up trees to show us the various types of coconuts and other tropical fruits.

Since some people who will travel to Bora Bora do not have the physical ability to get out of the boat and swim for some of these excursions, I would make sure to recommend that they still head out for the day and see the island by boat. Although Sarah enjoyed most of the out of boat activities, she chose to stay in for the last stingray adventure portion, which was perfectly fine by the guide... He was nice enough to bring the rays to her! I am sure they would offer a discounted rate for people who would not be able to get out and enjoy the full tour, but would still enjoy seeing the sights!

The jeep safari is a four-wheel-drive circle island tour of Bora Bora, taking in the rugged (and seldom seen) interior of the island. This includes the most scenic WW II gun emplacement on Bora Bora and the radar station atop Popotei Ridge, which is otherwise inaccessible. You also visit some of the ancient marae, rusting Quonset huts, ammo dumps, the TV tower and some other great panorama's.

It's an excellent excursion to get familiar with the real Bora Bora.

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We chose to do our deep sea fishing excursion with Moana Adventures and I'm happy to say we did. Our guide, who was an American, but has lived on Bora Bora for more than 40 years was as friendly as he was knowledgeable about the history of Bora Bora. We enjoyed a half day experience that took us outside the reef. They picked us up at our hotel at 7:45 in the morning and a short 10 minute ride later, we were at the dock. During our 4 hour journey, we caught a 50 pound wahoo! We headed back to the dock around noon where they sliced off some filets from the fish, and we left the rest with them. We went back to our hotel and them cook up the fish for us, which was delicious!

Tip - it can get really hot so make sure to bring plenty of water, sun screen, hat and snacks.

You go with a group in a Range Rover on a tour of Bora Bora. The guide takes you to different locations to give you panoramic views of the island. Sometimes it is pretty crazy how steep the inclines get, you feel like you might tip over. Yikes. One cool thing is that the guide stops to pick some pineapple and grapefruit and gives everybody some. Yummy!

The highlight of this bumpy ride for me was visiting the mountaintop artist. He paints beautiful pareos and had these awesome black stencils in the silhouette of island fish, which he used these to design his fabrics.

Really great afternoon out. Includes a trip round the island and shark and sting ray feeding. This is not for the people frightened of large animals touching you! The shark feeding was a bit strange but enjoyable. The tour guide gets in the water with you and he feeds the sharks fish guts which float around in the water with you while you stay behind a rope guide in the water very close by snorkeling so you can see what is going on. With the sting ray feeding you are allowed to feed these - they seem to suck in the fish from your hand as they brush past you in the water. Ask at your hotel about this kind of trip if you are interested!

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A great way to see the island. Our 4 hour tour took us up and around the island, in addition to the adventure of driving on the "rough paths" of the mountain. We stopped for a snack of pineapple and grapefruit served on the hood of the Land Rover. Great views to see.

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Our Shark, Ray and Snorkle excursion was organized from the hotel. It was relatively priced. We booked it in the evening with the hotel, and the next day we should up at the Hilton reception dock at 9am where the boat was already waiting for us. The actual excursion was manged by a family owned business. I love supporting the local economy so that was ok with me. The Father was the Captain, and of course knew all the spots where to locate our dangerous friends. We boarded at 9am, went to see the sharks, then we snorkeled around and some a variety of tropical fish, then we swam with the rays, and we finalized by doing a tour of the island during which we were given fresh juice and pineapple.

Below is the link to a similar excursion company in the island.

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Since most of our activities in Bora Bora involved the water, we wanted to do something on land and booked a 4X4 Jeep Safari Tour through the hotel (Sofitel). The tour was OK, but not as good as I had expected, especially given the quality of the other tours we had done. Unfortunately, it was booked through our hotel and I don't have a receipt, so I don't know which tour company it was. First, the driver was late picking us up at the hotel, although someone did call the hotel to let us know they were running late. From the hotel, we drove around the southern end of the island and went up a dirt road near Matira Point to an overlook. Steve, the driver, actually went up in reverse part of the way! At the top, we stopped for a bit to take some pictures from the overlook then went back down the hill and across the street to the Pearl Farm. I had bought my wife a pearl in Tahiti, but it was neat to look around anyway. Then we drove through Vaitape and went up another dirt road to the WWII cannons. This was the steepest and bumpiest road and felt like a roller coaster at times. We took some pictures around the cannons then headed back down and headed to Paarara Mountain Artist, an art studio at the just below Mount Pahia and Mount Otemanu, but it was closed. Great views of the mountains and Faanui Bay though. I can see how an artist would have plenty of inspiration with the views here. Then we drove back down and finished the loop around the island. I enjoyed the tour, but for the cost, I think it should have been a lot better. Despite picking us up late, the tour ended before the scheduled time (I guess since the art studio was closed). And seeing the WWII cannons was neat, but the other two main attractions were businesses. I think other tour operators have much better 4X4 tours.